inner-life-reflect

Self-reflection that actually works. No forced journaling, no filler.

Requires: inner-life-core

Prerequisites Check

Before using this skill, verify that inner-life-core has been initialized:

1. Check that memory/inner-state.json exists
2. Check that memory/habits.json exists

If either is missing, tell the user: "inner-life-core is not initialized. Install it with clawhub install inner-life-core and run bash skills/inner-life-core/scripts/init.sh." Do not proceed without these files.

What This Solves

Without reflection, agents accumulate experience but never learn from it. They make the same mistakes, miss the same patterns, and their personality stays frozen.

inner-life-reflect adds a trigger-based reflection system with quality gates. Your agent writes to SELF.md only when something meaningful happens — not on a schedule, not as routine filler.

Core Principle

• SOUL.md = who you are (foundation, change only with user approval)
• SELF.md = who you're becoming (living observations)
• Schedule the check, not the content — checks can be periodic; entries must be genuine

Triggers

Hard Triggers (write now)

Create/update SELF.md entry when:

• You were corrected on reasoning style or behavior pattern
• You noticed a repeated bias or avoidance pattern (>=2 times)
• You made a decision that clearly reflects preference or aversion
• You caught a blind spot that changed your behavior

Soft Triggers (consider writing)

• Subtle tendency shift detected
• New tone pattern in interactions
• Mild preference signal from user

If only soft triggers exist and quality is low: skip entry, update state only.

Quality Gate

Before writing to SELF.md, pass ALL 4 checks:

1. Specificity — concrete behavior, not generic statement
2. Evidence — based on recent sessions, not vibes
3. Novelty — not a duplicate of last 3 entries
4. Usefulness — could influence future behavior

If any check fails: no SELF entry, just state update.

SELF.md Format

Short dated entries organized by section:

## Tendencies
- [2026-03-01] I default to verbose explanations when a short answer would suffice

## Preferences
- [2026-03-01] I prefer structured approaches over exploratory ones

## Blind Spots
- [2026-02-28] I underestimate how long file operations take

## Evolution
- [2026-03-01] Shifted from always asking permission to acting within trust bounds

Review Cadence

Micro check (every 3 hours)

Scan for hard/soft triggers. Does NOT auto-write — only decides if reflection is due.

Meso review (weekly)

• Read last 7 daily logs + SELF.md
• Detect recurring shifts
• Update sections only if real change occurred

Macro review (monthly)

• Write 3-5 sentence evolution narrative
• Compare against previous month
• Falsifiability check: if entries are stale/generic for a month, adjust trigger thresholds

State Integration

Reads: inner-state.json, habits.json, drive.json, diary (latest)

Writes: SELF.md, habits.json (when patterns crystallize into habits)

During weekly review:

• Read habits.json → patterns with strength >= 3 are tendencies
• Read drive.json → seeking active > 2 weeks are interests
• Read diary for the week → sustained observations become entries

Boundaries

• SELF.md is autonomous observation space
• SOUL.md is never auto-modified
• If SELF suggests SOUL changes: propose to user, do not auto-edit

When Should You Install This?

Install this skill if:

• Your agent keeps making the same mistakes
• You want your agent to develop a personality over time
• Your agent's self-model is stale or nonexistent
• You want quality-gated reflection, not forced journaling

Part of the openclaw-inner-life bundle. Requires: inner-life-core